Red
by peachdoxie
Summary: Toothless struggles with the aftermath of that day they confronted Drago.


Everything turns red the moment Toothless loses himself. He looks at Hiccup, the boy blurry in his eyes. Toothless moves forward, stalking him. Hiccup holds out his hand and for a moment it seems that he is going to place it on the dragon's snout. But instead he yells and the world turns redder. Redder and redder and Toothless moves closer and closer. Hiccup becomes nothing more than a vague outline until he is lost and the world becomes a single shade.

Heat builds in Toothless' throat and now the world is a purple more familiar to the dragon than almost anything in the world. A loud boom makes Toothless' ears ring. Smoke clears, and Stoick is lying on the ground, not moving. Toothless shakes his head but the last bits of red still linger in his vision. He looks up and now Hiccup is lying on the ground and Stoick is standing over him, his helmet tossed to the side. He picks up his son and places his ear to the boy's chest and though Toothless has seen this before, he knows it will be different this time.

Stoick lets out a cry anguish and looks at Toothless. He begins to yell, incoherent words of anger that Toothless knows are directed at him. The dragon flinches and now Hiccup is yelling at him. Toothless backs away and more Hiccups are laying on the ice. More people come out of the gloom telling him to leave and suddenly they are all Hiccup, surrounding the shrinking dragon. In a panic, Toothless turns and flies above the battle field. The world becomes red again.

Now they are on Berk and someone who is not Hiccup is riding Toothless. He is desperate to shake the mysterious person off, knowing that he needs to make room for when Hiccup comes, but Toothless is powerless to act and is frozen in the air. He watches himself destroy Berk. The forge, gone. The stables gone. His home, gone. His vision is red mixed with flashes of that same purple that Toothless is beginning to fear and hate. The buildings below him explode in showers of wood and ice and people scream. His world is now no longer red but still people scream.

The weight on his back becomes too much and Toothless flaps his wings frantically to keep himself aloft. He is not strong enough, not fast enough. Toothless falls out of the sky in slow motion, delaying his inevitable fall until Hiccup comes and they can fly together. Something sharp stabs Toothless, right between the eyes, and the dragon cries out.

Hiccup is there in front of the slowly falling dragon, flying on a Night Fury with a complete tail and no saddle. Toothless cries out again, but Hiccup pays him no mind, his human eyes with narrow pupils focusing solely on the other dragon. The world tilts sideways and now Toothless is falling on his back, staring up at the sky, and the other Night Fury is gone. Hiccup falls after Toothless, calling his name over and over. The boy reaches his hand out and has almost touched Toothless when the dragon flips over, struggling to find purchase in the air, but he cannot fly on his own. Below him, Hiccup is falling. Toothless plunges towards the icy water beneath him, desperately trying to reach Hiccup before the boy hits the ice.

The ice explodes into a ball of fire, exactly like the day five years ago, except this time Hiccup is older and awake, still crying Toothless' name. Toothless dives after him and the fire is that same shade of purple they both know so well. He cries back to Hiccup, a wordless screech, knowing that he will not reach Hiccup in time before the flames consume him. The fire grows red and Hiccup disappears from Toothless' vision just before the dragon can grab his prosthetic foot. The flames surround them but Toothless only feels chilled to the bone.

Toothless emerges from the flames and is falling but flying towards the clouds. He fires a single shot directly above him, this time a darker, more vibrant purple. The clouds shatter into shards of ice and out of the center comes Hiccup. Toothless flies with ease towards his best friend, no longer afraid, and the boy holds out a fish for his dragon. _I'm right here! _Hiccup calls out and Toothless can clearly hear what he says. _I'm right here, bud! _They are horizontal now, supported by the air itself, and Toothless smiles at Hiccup, who smiles back. Something covers the dragon's eyes but he is not afraid because Hiccup is there. Toothless moves forward and places his nose in Hiccup's outstretched hand. _I'm right_

"Here," Hiccup whispered. Toothless opened his eyes and found Hiccup, bathed in darkness, not red, leaning against him, one arm wrapped around his dragon's head. Rain drummed against the roof. Lightning flashed that same purple from his dream, and thunder boomed at the same time, making Toothless jump. He shifted to curl his tail around Hiccup's body. Hiccup laid his head on top of Toothless', and the dragon let out a little whimper, shaking from the memories lingering in his mind. "It's okay, bud," Hiccup said, wrapping both arms around Toothless. "I've got you. I'm right here."

Toothless closed his eyes and within moments fell back asleep, dreams calm with the knowledge that Hiccup would always be there to catch him.


End file.
